By Gregory Orear
General Manager/Editor

WINFIELD – A Winfield woman who adopted a dozen children and fostered more than 200 has been charged with three felonies stemming from allegations of abuse and trading a child for a monkey.

Following her arrest Sunday night, Brenda Deutsch, 70, remains in custody on a $250,000 cash-only bond in the Lincoln County jail on charges of child abuse, neglect and endangerment.

In an exclusive interview with The Lincoln County Journal, Deutsch’s daughter, Brina, said her mother came to her in November asking her to drive the victim to Texas. 

“Brenda came to me and said will you transport (the victim) to Texas and I said ‘Why?'” Deutsch said. “And she said ‘you’re supposed to get a monkey in trade.’ I’m thinking … what the hell did she just say? What?”

Abuse Reported in November

According to court documents, social services received an anonymous report later in the month that Deutsch was physically and mentally abusing the victim. 

In an interview with the victim at school, she stated Deutsch struck her with several objects including a paddle, wood trim and shoes and that she once received a nose bleed following a smack to the face. 

Brina said after she refused her mother’s request, she asked at least one more person who was equally shocked. 

“We heard her talk about it many times after that … but we just left it alone,” Brina said. “But she’s texting me. I had a rental car for a while and she said ‘before you return the rental car, can you take her to Texas.’ It had gotten bad, but I hadn’t realized we had reached this point.”

Brina realized just how bad it became when she got a call just before Christmas informing her the victim was on a plane and that her mom expected to expand her monkey collection by one. 

“She said I’m just sick of her, I don’t want her anymore,” Brina said when her mother explained why she sent the child to Texas. “That’s like human trafficking.”

According to court documents, one of the provisions of the trade stated Deutsch “will be keeping the check.”

Down in Texas

Apparently, the woman in Texas didn’t actually want the victim any more than Brenda. According to court documents, she left town to take care of some exotic animals in New Mexico and left the victim with another friend. While she claimed she’d return to pick the child up in five days, she still hadn’t returned after seven and wasn’t responding to calls.

At the same time, Deutsch refused to take the victim back.

Consequently, the victim was turned over to Texas authorities and she remains in protective custody there today. 

Lincoln County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Wood said the victim was living in “deplorable” conditions in Texas in a home so cold the pipes had burst.

Wood said the victim now is doing fine.

“She’s thriving in Texas,” he said. “She’s in a group home, doing really, really well. We expect her to participate in the court process.”

Brina’s not surprised the victim is doing so well. In addition to being taken off what Brina believes are unnecessary medications, she said the victim is just your basic good kid.

“She is a very sweet girl. She stayed at my house many times,” Brina said. “I never had a problem with her. She is very helpful, very caring, very sweet girl.”

Here in Missouri

While the victim was taken into protective custody, another child remained in Brenda’s home until her arrest Sunday night.

Wood said he can’t explain that.  

“There were no actions to take (him) out of the home,” Wood said. “I don’t understand If I have one child in protective custody, why is the other one there. Is that kid going to get traded for a boa constrictor? Is he going to end up on a plane to someplace we don’t know?”

Wood also indicated his office will be determining why allegations were ignored not only in this case, but from the last 10-15 years.

For more information into an investigation Wood started into DFS, along with the sheriff’s internal review, click here.

For her part, Brina said there have been allegations of abuse since her mother married her stepfather, Dennis.

“I had been preaching it since I can remember about the abuse,” Brina said. “And everybody is like oh that can’t be true, that can’t be true, we can’t see Dennis ever doing that. Now they can see it.”

Brina said her stepfather also sexually abused her and at least one other child.

“I reported it, and nothing was done,” she said. “We were investigated. It was reported many more times after that and nobody would do anything. I was told they just didn’t believe me.”

History of Abuse 

When interviewed by Texas officials, the victim detailed numerous instances of physical abuse allegedly at the hands of Deutsch. She stated Deutsch hit her with a paddle, wood trim, shoes and a “monkey bottle.” The victim also recounted instances where a family member pinned her to the ground while Deutsch struck her bare buttocks with a paddle.

She also alleged Deutsch would lie to doctors about her behavior.

“…the Suspect would lie to medical professionals so she (Victim) would be admitted into facilities for things like harming herself,” court records state. “The victim stated she would not be doing the things the suspect said she was.”

After reporting the abuse, the victim suffered more physical punishment.

“The victim disclosed a time when she told a friend at church about being abused by the Suspect,” records indicate. “According to the Victim, the Suspect was upset she told someone she was abused. The Victim said she told the Suspect if she doesn’t want her telling people about abuse, not to do it. The Victim stated the Suspect told her we was going to regret telling … (and) the Suspect grabbed a piece of wooden trim and started hitting her (Victim) with it.”

Brina said she experienced many of those same threats, up to and including death.

“She told me if I ever did anything that caused my brother and I to be taken from her, that she’d kill me,” Brina recalls.

Initial Appearance

Deutsch made an initial court appearance Tuesday afternoon in the Lincoln County Associate Court. With no attorney present, she informally requested a bond reduction from Judge Michael Jacobs, who responded he lacked the authority to do so at this time.

She requested a public defender and will make another appearance next week. At this time though, she remains in custody on the $250,000 cash-only bond.

The three charges are all Class D felonies and include a prison sentence of a minimum of one to seven years on each count.

Wood said the case remains under investigation and will be for a while. In addition to more charges from his office, he said there could also be federal charges for trafficking a child across state lines.